


Give Me a Clooney

by totallyrandom



Series: Stiles is Trans, Dude [9]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Gen, Haircuts, Stiles Stilinski has a good day, Stiles Stilinski-centric, Trans Male Character, Trans Stiles Stilinski, barbershop, first masculine haircut, wholesome content
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-15
Updated: 2019-08-15
Packaged: 2020-09-01 06:15:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20253502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/totallyrandom/pseuds/totallyrandom
Summary: For the prompt:Stiles gets his first masculine haircut





	Give Me a Clooney

**Author's Note:**

> Dedication: For terra, at long last

Stiles is a bit queasy from the blazing sun when he pushes open the door to the barbershop three towns over. The relief from the wave of air conditioning evaporates as he notices all the men in the shop have turned to look at him. Stiles feels horribly conspicuous with hair halfway down his back and the edges of his sports bra obvious under his t-shirt because he hasn’t been able to get a binder yet. He bolts.

It’s two weeks later and 15 degrees cooler before he has the courage to go back--in Beacon Hills this time. He’s gonna do it today. No backing out. He has to, since he’d chopped off as much hair as he could last night and now it’s stupidly uneven. He throws on a cap and a plaid button-down over his t-shirt and heads out to get his hair cut. For real this time. 

Everyone looks as he walks in this time, too, but everyone is only half as many people as at the last place, and Stiles refuses to buckle this time. He just clears his throat and takes off his cap, shoving it into his back pocket.

“Whoa. What happened there?” the barber asks when he sees the mess on Stiles’s head.

“Oh,” Stiles chuckles weakly. “Yeah, I know. I was … um ... growing it out for Locks of Love and thought I could just, um, take care of it myself. Nope! Bad idea, Stiles. _Really_ bad idea. … But … um … you can fix it, right?”[1] 

“Sure. I'm about done with Javier here,” he says over the buzz of the clipper as he evens up the kid’s sideburns. “What’d’ya have in mind?”

“Oh. I dunno. Just like a regular cut?”

“How about you look through those books in the corner and let me know when you find what you want?”

“Oh. Yeah. Ok. Um, thanks.”

The oversized books strewn on the shelf under the window are frayed around the edges, and the unevenly sun-bleached photos on the covers are of styles from decades long past. He flips through a few for shits and giggles, taking photos of the more ridiculous ones to send Scott later. 

He had run out of fast data three days ago--too much Pokémon when he got bored in class--so the Google images are sloooooooow to appear. But he's pretty sure that once it fully loads, anything from the first screen of photos is bound to be worlds better than what’s in those books. 

He laughs at Clooney’s mullet from his Facts of Life days.[2] He finds one of him in a tux that he almost picks until he realizes it’s basically the same as his dad’s.[3] At least the Sheriff doesn’t have that awful moustache![4]

“Yeah, no,” he mumbles to himself as he tries to scroll to the next set. 

“You OK over there?” the barber asks. 

“Just fighting with my phone.”

“Good luck, kid.”

Stiles nods absently and taps his fingers along the phone case while he waits for the next set to load. _This is excruciating._ Finally two more resolve and the ER look’s not bad--basically a grown-out buzz.[5] Simple. No styling required. A good starter haircut, he figures. He can always watch a bunch of YouTube styling videos and get something different next time.

Somehow, waiting for the barber to finish brushing off the other customer’s stray clippings with the stubby brush is even more painful than 2G.[6] He sits on his hands to keep from fidgeting, but his knee starts bouncing, which Lydia always tells him isn't any better. He settles on discreetly rubbing the cuff of his flannel between the thumb and finger he has tucked into his other elbow, so no one can see. 

Like a year later, it feels like, it's finally Stiles’s turn. The chair hisses and he plops down with an oversized grin and turns his phone toward the barber.[7]

He changes his mind at the last minute. “This one please, sir.”[8]

The kid sweeping hair into a bag in the corner snorts. The barber purses his lips at the kid and asks Stiles if maybe he's looking for a job. 

“Not right now, sir. But I'll keep it in mind.” The banter relaxes him enough that there’s finally enough room to fit the cape between his shoulders and his ears. 

The barber pats him on the back and says, “You can call me Jimmy. What'd you say your name was?”

“Um, Stiles. Do you think this'll look OK on me?”

Jimmy cards his hands through Stiles hair and studies his face. “Yeah. Let's give it a shot. Worst case we fully buzz it off. It's only hair!”

Stiles lets out a shaky laugh. “Yeah. Yeah, it's only hair.” It might have come out squeakier than he'd've liked because Jimmy pats him on the shoulder again. 

“All set?”

“Yeah. Yes.” Stiles blows out a breath and then sits as still as he can--the rubbing, rubbing, rubbing of his cuff coupled with worrying at his bottom lip now. 

Jimmy stops after a minute and squints at him. 

Stiles's eyes go wide. “What? What's wrong?”

“Nothing. I've just got everything ready to start. This is the longest I could go and keep things even. Wanted to see if you'd rather leave it like this or go shorter like the picture.”

“Oh, um… “ Stiles shakes his head to see how the cut falls. He runs his hands through it and grips it tight like he does during chemistry class--or when Scott falls in love with the third person in a week. He's not sure what it is, but it doesn’t look right yet. It's too … soft, still. “I think shorter. Shorter, right? Shorter is better.”

“OK. Here we go.”

He's too nervous to watch, so he closes his eyes and lets his mind go unfocused to the snip-snip surrounding him. He startles when Jimmy clears his throat. 

“I think we're done here. What do you think?”

Stiles turns his head this way and that, taking the hand mirror as Jimmy swivels him around so he can see the back. He hands it back with a shrug. “Hmmm. It's not quite… “ he says, gesturing over his head in a swoosh. 

Jimmy chuckles. “That's all product. Let's start with the length first. Ok or shorter?”

“Oh. No, this is good.”

“Good. Now, how do you want the neck done?”

Stiles just looks at him, stumped. 

Jimmy chuckles. “Squared or rounded off at the neck?”

Stiles still has no idea. He stares at all the combs floating in bluish liquid. What even is that? He squints at the glass container with the silver top.[9] It says Barbicide, so it clearly kills something. After a too-long pause, he settles on hard lines because they seem a little more masculine somehow. 

The barber squares it off with a straight razor and then finishes with some powder.[10] Stiles has no idea why.

“Um, can you … ?“ Stiles makes the swooping gesture again. 

The barber rubs some mousse through his fingers and shapes Stiles’s hair as close to the photo as he can get it. 

“Alright, Stiles. I think we're all set here, if you’re happy with it. If you want anything more complicated, you’ll need to go to a salon next time.” 

“No, this is great. Really great!” Stiles stares at himself in the big mirror with a dopey grin. He can’t resist touching his bangs reverently and hoping he'll be able to get it to look like this at home for school tomorrow. 

“OK, well, come back in about 6 weeks for a trim unless you decide to let it grow back out.”

“I will. Thanks, Jimmy!” Stiles is so thrilled he hands him $40 for the $24 haircut and heads toward the door. 

“Thanks! See you soon, son.”

Stiles throws a wave over his shoulder and ducks his head to hide a blush. Outside, the wind is chilly on his now-bare neck and ruffles his hair. He ducks back into the alcove to stand in front of the door to take selfies from every possible angle because he knows he'll end up mussing it up on the drive home. 

He glides his fingertips across the hairs above his ears and lets out a long-held breath as he walks back to the Jeep. He ends up taking back roads because his reflection in the rearview keeps distracting him too much to be safe in regular traffic. 

When Stiles knocks on the back door at the vet’s, Scott freezes for a second staring at him through the window before running out and pulling him into the best bear hug ever. Stiles isn’t crying; it’s just raining on his face.[11] When he gets home, the Sheriff cries too.

The next morning, Stiles trudges down for breakfast to find a photo on the kitchen table of his father as a young man with a haircut much like Stiles's new one. There a sticky note on the back saying it was the day before he enlisted in the Army.

**Author's Note:**

> [1] http://locksoflove.org
> 
> [2] [Clooney’s mullet.](https://66.media.tumblr.com/9070a26d8eadcdf6d885c1b70abaecf0/b8ee204125c285ba-1a/s400x600/01138849247776f340295324073a9a42fac44383.jpg)  

> 
> [3] [The Sheriff.](https://66.media.tumblr.com/0bf407638191e01917a814bdac3d299d/b8ee204125c285ba-9b/s500x750/d082efb4ab5eb40eeef201b302aa7f97d6585c56.png)  

> 
> [4] [Clooney’s moustache.](https://66.media.tumblr.com/08e01d80c5e1d7006e466adb44a0b54e/b8ee204125c285ba-bd/s400x600/b8bf110c30ba0921fc93d642abf69a1ee1a06d92.jpg)  

> 
> [5] [Clooney on ER.](https://66.media.tumblr.com/c3bbd364297980004cf49db46e3da553/b8ee204125c285ba-17/s250x400/fc47ced2a1bd9d1f8769df73607deee96e774c3e.jpg)  

> 
> [6] [Neck duster.](https://66.media.tumblr.com/80aeef8b33feb7053394fd3a08a20e7c/b8ee204125c285ba-4b/s400x600/796513a05c15bb5497b8cdfac3a41559992dec97.jpg)  

> 
> [7] [Hydraulic barber’s chair.](https://66.media.tumblr.com/415f3d97abfe5d2a9c5d00cd96e89706/b8ee204125c285ba-52/s400x600/2de9cf4e43541c17928c38cbfeea654bae84879a.jpg)  

> 
> [8] [Stiles's haircut.](https://66.media.tumblr.com/06334b3a314f4dd412d2024fec9c5851/b8ee204125c285ba-64/s250x400/8ee8fabeaf77dd8fa2dbdc1ce492c259a094a2cf.jpg)  

> 
> [9] [Barbicide.](https://66.media.tumblr.com/42c41d6e52c8da74036c23de97780558/b8ee204125c285ba-df/s400x600/4b5e43fb3628a968eb8bdab2b97aff733dad4405.jpg)  

> 
> [10] [Straight razor.](https://66.media.tumblr.com/ff10785236c59f255c1c85452ae4313e/b8ee204125c285ba-7b/s500x750/80a13c8d856016143434e60ce402ddd9e827bb05.jpg)  

> 
> [11] [Flight of the Conchords, “I'm Not Crying”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pVT_mvvZLo)
> 
> [In case the images are missing here, you can find them on Tumblr: <https://totally0random.tumblr.com/post/187345271397/images-for-fic-give-me-a-clooney>]


End file.
